Of the approximately 320 gallons of water that an average household uses every day, 15 percent goes to lawns and gardens, which adds up to about 9 billion gallons per day throughout the country, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. Maintaining the lawn is “simply trying to sustain what we know isn’t sustainable,” says Matthias Ruth, professor of civil and environmental engineering at Northeastern University.

What we need is a wholesale change in attitudes and behavior, he says. Like getting rid of the lawn altogether. It might sound preposterous, but we’re hardly the only ones thinking along these lines. In Northern California, American Canyon has banned front lawns for new houses. Similar attempts have been made in Iowa. And the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is offering $3.75 per square foot of lawn replaced by low-water landscape: succulents, native plants, gravel, etc. There is a debate over its inclusion of artificial turf.